Between the period of apartheid rule and the creation of a people's republic in South Africa, lies the period of bitter struggle between the oppressor and the people, which will be won in each area by the destruction of the enemy's organs of administration and the setting up of revolutionary people's communes in every victorious district. This article describes the important role these communes will play in the consolidation of people's power in the black townships and villages during this period. It ends with an exposition of Marx's attitude to the State after the 1871 Paris Commune. Ref.